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Cold brewed this one just to see how it changed from the hot brew. I still get confused by this tea since when it’s brewed, there’s like a sludge comes to life in my...”
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“Thanks for the wonderful sample, Stacy! This is my first purple tea ever.
I brewed up a cup, poured half into a mug and the other half into my Timolino, then dropped some ice into my Timolino so I...”
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“First note, again?! (Also a mini sipdown, hah!)
I just received my latest Butiki order today and had requested this tea as a sample, being wary of the included hibiscus. Dry, the tea is...”
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From Butiki Teas

The Kamba Berry blend comes from Royal Tea of Kenya and was named after the Kamba Tribe, which is one of the largest tribal groups in Kenya. The Akamba people live primarily in the arid eastern part of the country and are skilled in basketry and wood carving. Kamba Berry pairs purple tea from the southern slopes of Mount Kenya with antioxidant rich berries, hibiscus, ginger, and basil. This tea has a wonderful herbal, berry taste with a gentle pucker and an underlying sweetness and produces a gorgeous pink liquor. While delicious with a little bit of sugar, this tea is equally enjoyable plain. More extensive information on our Kenyan teas can be found HERE.

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17 Tasting Notes

Cold brewed this one just to see how it changed from the hot brew. I still get confused by this tea since when it’s brewed, there’s like a sludge comes to life in my brew basket. I like the tangy-ness of this tea cold brewed. i think it needs a little sweetness added to it to really make it pop….and china calls. crap.

This one is a sneaky tea! Purple tea, lots of blueberry going on, some strawberry, little natural sweetness, some puckery tart (making it remind me of cranberry almost), some herbyness, and some dry ginger. The berryness is lovely and I love all the interest with the herby and ginger. The dryness was SNEAKY in making me want to keep drinking! I’m not a huge fan of tart and dry but I enjoyed this tea for the very good berry taste!

Very good iced as well – I think I’ll continue with the rest of my batch iced.

Preparation

Thanks for the wonderful sample, Stacy! This is my first purple tea ever.

I brewed up a cup, poured half into a mug and the other half into my Timolino, then dropped some ice into my Timolino so I could see what this would be like hot and iced.

Once steeped, the liquor looked very murky. Nothing wrong with that, but I wasn’t expecting that.

Hot, as usual, the hibiscus really comes through. Underneath the über tart hibiscus, I can taste mostly blueberries, and then something fresh and herbal.

Onto the iced. I think this tea is more appropriate this way. I’m getting more of what I’m guessing is the purple base, and the blueberries and strawberries are more prominent, while the hibiscus has calmed down a bit. So, there’s a better balance here. I normally never sweeten my iced teas or cold brews, but I think this would have been even better had I added a bit of sweetener before dropping in the ice cubes.

This one sure packs a punch in the tart department!

EDIT: Oh duh, didn’t realize there was basil in this. That’s the herbal note on which I was picking up.

I just received my latest Butiki order today and had requested this tea as a sample, being wary of the included hibiscus. Dry, the tea is quite powdery, with a bunch of little raspberry bits, and it smells very berry-ish. Steeped, I can tragically smell hibiscus! But hopefully it’s only an aroma, not a strong flavour…

Ok. The hibiscus is not overwhelming, but I’ve gotta say that this is one weeeeird blend. I can definitely taste what’s coming off as authentic blueberry, a bit of tartness from the hibiscus (which is kind of merging with a raspberry flavour), a bit of a burn from the ginger… and it’s leaving a rather dry yet fruity/sweet taste in my mouth. How odd! I don’t think I’ve ever had a berry blend with ginger in it before, and I’ve not quite come to terms with that yet. The sweet (yet astringent) aftertaste here is my favourite part about the blend, but I would have to say that it’s probably not a tea I’d seek out. I have to wonder how it would be iced, so perhaps at some point I’ll request another sample to try it that way, but for now, I’m glad to have tried it to satisfy my curiosity!

Thanks for the sample, Stacy!

ETA: So it seems there are no raspberries in here, so clearly I was seeing strawberries and/or hibiscus. And I somehow had missed that there was tea in here! I imagine that would be the source of the astringency.

Preparation

wow. okay. this one is berry and tart.
sil mentioned in her comment that a little sweetener helps it pop so i added some to one cup and it was nice.
i guess this one is just too tart for me. probably a nice heat of summer option though.
thank you Sil!

Preparation

This really wasn’t my favorite. I’ve never had purple tea before, so I don’t know what it tastes like alone, but this blend tasted pretty much like blueberry and hibiscus and not much else. It smelled heavenly and brewed a beautiful deep reddish purple color, but it just seemed to lack the magic that Butiki’s black, green, and white blends have in terms of flavor.

Preparation

This one isn’t our blend. I’ve kind of been thinking about discontinuing it for a while but am still undecided since its a little more tart than something we would come up with but does seem to fill a gap for people that enjoy tart iced teas. I definitely recommend trying it with a little sugar.

I got this as a sample with my Butiki order because strawberries, blueberries, and ginger oh my! I’m usually wary about hibiscus, because it often imparts a tartness I can’t get over, but here we are.

First thing I noticed was what a pretty color my tea was. It’s this really lovely pinky purplely almost wine colored color. Second thing I noticed was that it was tart buuuuuut not as tart as I was dreading. Instead it tastes a lot like concentrated blueberry on my tongue with a kind of dryness that keeps me drinking. It actually reminds me a lot of California Tea House’s Blueberry Syrup only with a sweeter strawberry finish. I liked it a lot more after I added a touch of sweetener. It seemed to pop the strawberry flavor and tame the hibiscus a bit.

I’ll probably pick up more of this once the weather warms because I think it would be an amazing iced tea.